Time Sand
by BlueRubyBeat
Summary: The empty store Msaw Ætare in Knockturn Alley had been only open one day. The owner died in a tragic accident, while all his wares disappeared and no one could describe what he sold.


**Time Sand**

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling does.

 **AN:** Captain of the Tutshill Tornados for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition - Finals Round 1

 **Prompt:** Write about Msaw Ætare; there is no purpose linked to this shop, so it is up to you to decide what that might be

 **Word Count:** 1,350 words

 **~.~**

"I finally did it," Clemence commented as he stared up at the store in front of him. He smiled at the chipped paint coating the outside walls, the slightly cloudy windows adding mystery to the store and the new sign at the top of door. He could not afford to make the outside look as new as he liked, that was just asking for trouble with a shop that was just inside Knockturn Alley, but the inside of the store was mostly sparkly clean.

He was quite proud of himself for finally opening his own shop, it wiped almost all of his savings to open it but he thought it was worth it. "To new beginnings," he whispered to himself.

He stared up at his new shop that he opened in the mouth in Knockturn Alley. He hoped that since it was close to Diagon Alley, mostly non-sketchy people would visit his shop. He knew that Knockturn Alley had a bad reputation, in that only seedy people worked and visited the Alley. His shop was in it so it might gain a bad reputation but he believed his location would keep the less than reputable people from browsing his wares.

Clemence did not have the money to open the shop in Diagon Alley, but this spot would have to do. In the future, he hoped to gain enough money to move out of Knockturn Alley and open up shop in Diagon Alley. Although he was still slightly miffed about his location, he was still pleased with himself for starting his business.

He took a glance at the title of his shop. Msaw Ætare was what he decided on. He could not help himself with the play of words considering what he sold. It took him years to create the product, through long research and experimentation. Finally though, he created Time Sand for people of the public to use. It was more like a joke, in that it would only send a person back a few minutes and no longer than half an hour. It was like using the Gemino Curse, but instead of using a wand, a person used sand that bended time.

"Okay. Let's get this shop open and ready for business." Clemence smiled to himself and opened his shop before walking in. He flipped his sign to open and walked behind the cash register desk, ready for customers to walk in.

It took some time before his first customer passed through the door. He did not look like he tussled with the wrong side of the law so that was a plus in his book.

"Hello sir, welcome to Msaw Ætare. Please browse my wares and if you have any questions I will be happy to help you." Clemence spoke with a positive tone and smile on his face.

"Thank you," the man said as he walked down the nearest row.

Many of the rows were of Time Sand in different containers and colors differentiating the types of sand; white sand lasted a few seconds, green sand lasted only a few minutes, and blue sand lasted at most a half hour. Currently he was working on a sand that lasted for a few hours but it was still a work in progress.

"Does this sand really take you back in time?" The customer asked. Clemence was all too happy to answer his question and the questions that followed. He was glowing when the man bought a bit of all three types of sand. After the man left, it wasn't too long that customers started flooding his little store making him a very rich man.

All too soon his happiness came to an end as the second day when he opened his shop it was already filled with people in dark robes and hoods that casted shadows over their faces. The mysterious people were grabbing his wares and putting them in special containers.

"Hey you can't take my stuff!" Clemence yelled. "Why are you doing this? Give me back my stuff! This is stealing!"

Clemence was angry that these people were grabbing his hard-earned work. He went up to the nearest person and yanked his sand out of their hands. The man tried to take it back but Clemence pushed him away.

"Get out of my shop! Leave me alone!" His voice sounded through the room. He didn't notice a man creep up behind him and gave him a whack to the head, knocking him out. Clemence went down and the sand in his hands was grabbed before it broke along the floor.

"Why didn't you use the stunning spell?" A guy asked.

"I did not want to use magic with all this Time Sand around." The man that knocked out the owner replied. The guy who asked nodded his head in understanding.

"Okay everyone. Make sure to sweep this whole building of every piece of product, then we will go to headquarters. The other teams that are currently searching his house and the customers from yesterday will meet us there." The leader of the group said. The others responded, "Yes sir," before continuing their work.

 **~.~**

 **An Unidentifiable Time Later**

 **~.~**

Clemence slowly came to from his unconscious state. His head was killing him and he wondered what was going on. His mind was jumbled over the previous events. He blinked his eyes slowly and looked around the room he was currently in. It had dimmed lights around himself and he could only see a few feet around his current position, the rest of the room was pitch black. He was confused and started to get up but realized he was tied down to a chair. His eyes widened at his current situation and he could not fathom how he got in this predicament.

It took him a few minutes, a few minutes longer than he liked, to figure out what happened before this moment. He remembered that he was knocked out after people invaded his store and stole his hard earned work. He did not know who they were, but he was very angry at them.

A door opening behind him, bringing him out of his thoughts. He tried to turn his head to the person walking closer to him but he couldn't. So he waited. His face was blank as the person finally walked into his line of sight. He wouldn't break, no matter what.

"Clemence Havenfield." The mystery man said. "I will be frank with you. Your store will be going 'out of business'. You are going to disappear from the public by an accident. That will be in the cover story, if you will cooperate. Otherwise that 'story' won't be a story."

Clemence was confused and while he tried to keep his face blank, he couldn't and his confusion was shown.

"I see your confusion. So I will explain in plainer terms. Either you join us or you die. Your choice."

"What about my work? You stole it!" Clemence growled, "Why would I join you?"

"For one, you will get to keep your work and continue working on it." the mysterious man replied.

Clemence hummed. He was still unconvinced.

"We will pay you," the man said, giving Clemence more incentive to live. The man really wanted Clemence alive to keep the research going. He believed his Time Sand could help his group and the more research and creating Clemence did, the better it would be.

'That changes things.' He thought. 'Either die and my work stolen or get paid to continue my work and keep it? I want to live and I don't want my research in their hands, so it's not such a hard choice.'

With a sigh, Clemence responded. "I'll work for you." He felt like he signed a deal with Morgan le Fay.

"Great!" The man commented with a happy tone. He used a spell to make his bindings disappear. Clemence got up from his seat and the other man came close and shook his hand while saying, "welcome to the Unspeakables."

"What?"

 **~.~**

And that was how Time Turners were created.

 **~.~**


End file.
